Taken By The Stars
by Stativefawn72
Summary: Commander Cory Vishner has just graduated from pilots school. When he gets his first personal spaceship, he embarks on a journey of galactic proportions with large ambitions. However, he's about to learn just how dangerous a place the galaxy can be...
1. Chapter 1

**Hi, so, this is my first story, never written before in a day of my life. However, I've been playing Elite: Dangerous lately, and was completely taken aback by just how much potential it had in the story department (even if they don't always capitalize on it...) so I thought I would take a chance and sort of describe my adventure in Elite, with some obvious embellishments to make it more interesting. Anyhow, I would greatly appreciate any feedback you could give me, as I'm always happy and willing to learn. Have a nice day :)**

Chapter 1

I had been sitting on this bench for almost three hours, but I wasn't bored in the slightest. Today was a very special day indeed. My name is Cory Vishner. Or, as evidenced by me repeating it under my breath this whole time, _Commander _Cory Vishner. I had graduated from the Pilots Federation just last week, and I was here to claim my own _personal spaceship_. I had to pay an older commander a handsome amount of credits to fly me to Greckho Dock in the Abi star system, but it was money well spent.

I twiddled my thumbs as I contemplated all the things I would do. Many fresh commanders like myself immediately took to a life of danger and excitement, more than eager to show off their newfound skills, but I had a much tamer vision. I wanted to be an explorer. Ever since I was a kid I had spent a large amount of free time looking through GalNet articles about all of the amazing places there were to see in the galaxy, and the vast majority of it was completely unexplored. So much more out there, just waiting to be discovered.

Sadly, deep-space exploration was a dangerous and expensive business. Even if you had a ship good enough to survive out there on it's own, there was no guarantee that you would ever return from your next trip into the black. During my time in pilot school, I had learned just how far fetched my dream actually was, but I didn't give up. I trained especially hard in politics and economics, so finding a paying job wouldn't be too hard, especially with the increasing demand for freelance commanders. I _would _leave the Bubble one day, which is what everyone called the huge collection of stars colonized by humanity.

While I waited for the engineers to finish running diagnostics on my new ship, I looked around the room I was in, taking in the foreign designs and holographic monitors that covered almost every inch of the station's interior. I had grown up in a relatively poor system, which was a large incentive for me wanting to leave. However, that also meant that I was completely unprepared when I stepped aboard Greckho Dock, which was a pretty wealthy station. Big too. There were neon lights that that ran across the ceiling in long red lines, and nearly everything was digital.

The room I was in was by far the largest waiting room I had ever seen. You could fit a _Python assault ship _inside of it. Even with all of that space, the floor was mostly covered in reclining chairs that were almost all full. I guess they got a lot of traffic here.

Suddenly, a sharp hiss signaled a pressurized door sliding open in front of me as a tall man in a white suit came in and called out, "Is there a 'Cory Vishner' here?"

I jumped out of my seat so fast that the middle-aged man to my right yelped softly, before coughing to cover it up.

"That's me, sir!" I called back, waving wildly. He just frowned and walked back through the door, signaling with his hand for me to follow him, which I did with maybe a little too much enthusiasm.

We walked down several long and identical corridors as I launched into a series of questions about my ship, to which he just sighed in exasperation and said, "Look kid, you'll have to take all that up with the engineers, I just escort people from the waiting room."

Getting the hint, I shut up for the remainder of the walk, but couldn't stop my arms from shivering with excitement at my sides.

Finally, we arrived at a pair of very large hangar doors. This was it. The man in the suit, who's name I never learned, walked briskly over to a panel on the wall and quickly punched in four digits, before the doors began to creak open slowly. Too excited to wait for them to finish, I lunged forward and squeezed between the gap too fast for my escort to stop me as he uselessly shot his arms out to hold me back.

I didn't get very far before I stopped dead in my tracks at the sight I held before me. The hanger was absolutely massive, I could barely see all the walls, they were so far away from me. I heard heavy footfalls behind me as my escort ran to catch up, panting heavily.

I felt a hand roughly grab my shoulder and spin me around, the man shaking me a bit as he yelled in my face, "What the hell do you think you're doing?! You're not allowed in here unsupervised! You think you're the first person to earn your pilot's license?! Well you're not! Now get a hold of yourself, and follow me to your ship so you can leave."

For once, I was completely silent as I slowly nodded my head. He nodded back, still frowning, before he let go of my shoulder and began to walk away with me following close behind, significantly more laid back this time.

My excitement had been dampened by the encounter quite a bit, but it quickly came back full force as the ship I ordered online came into view.

It was a Cobra MK3. A smaller ship to be sure, but it was the best I could afford with the money I had been given by the Pilots Federation to get me started. It's shape was a rough trapezoid, with the back end flared out to support the engines, before tapering off towards the front end where the cockpit was. The Cobra stood on three long landing gears, the bottom held slightly above my head. It was a brilliant blue color with white stripes going down both sides. Regardless of it's size though, it had a very good reputation for being one of the best multi-purpose ships in the galaxy. I could do anything in this thing if I wanted to.

But none of that even registered in my mind as I stood there, open mouthed as I gawked dumbly at the ship. At _my _ship. While it may have been small in relation to most other ships out there, it was still massive compared to me. It was easily the size of a building fit for two people, even though it was only designed with a single person in mind.

I turned back to my escort and asked, "So what, can I just hop in? I thought there would be more paperwork."

He just shrugged, not really caring as he responded, "All the paperwork is already done. It seems someone at the Pilots Federation really likes you. Aren't you a lucky one. From what the engineers told me, she's fueled and ready to jump." He reached into a pocket and pulled out a small plastic card, before holding it out to me, "The key to your new ship Commander Vishner."

I took the card, before wishing the man farewell, to which he only grunted and briskly walked away. Man, people were rude when they were rich. Too excited to care about that at the moment, I quickly sprinted up to my ship. I looked at the green, plastic card in my hand, before swiping it across the tac-pad on my right arm, linking the Cobra's credentials to my pilot's uniform. The Cobra beeped a couple times to confirm I had linked the correct ship.

Now I could give the Cobra commands while outside of the cockpit, which I used to lower the ladder into the cockpit, since the bottom of the ship was still a bit above my head once I was standing under it.

Once I was settled into the cockpit, complete with a sound cancelling hull, I screamed in pure happiness. These past four years of pilot school had finally payed off! My screaming was cut short however as a soft female voice echoed from everywhere in the cockpit at once, "Voice recognition activated, awaiting authentication. Please confirm identity…"

It was the COVAS. The custom AI that ran most ships in the galaxy. They weren't sentient, and had no real emotions, but they did a decently good job of imitating it. They're purpose was to give the pilot increased situational awareness, since controlling a spaceship was no easy task. Most of the systems were controlled by the COVAS so that the pilot could focus on flying the ship, rather than constantly having to maintain the hundreds of systems that held the ship together.

I smiled, and responded as I had been trained to, "Voice recognition confirmed, Commander Cory Vishner of the Pilot's Federation, at your service."

Within a second the AI was already responding, "Voice authentication confirmed. Welcome aboard Commander, all systems are online and awaiting your command."

"Damn straight…" I whispered under my breath, more than ready to get this thing undocked.

I activated the communications relay, and opened a channel with Greckho Dock to request access to one of the active hanger bays. I was just in storage right now, but all of these ships were attached to a rail system that could place any of them in an active bay within seconds.

When the channel was linked, I spoke clearly and with a confidence I hadn't felt in awhile, "This is Commander Cory Vishner to Greckho Dock, come in."

There was a few seconds of static from their end before the voice of a polite sounding young man came through the speakers, "This is Greckho Dock, we read you Commander. I see you're in one of the storage hangars and that your ship is fully registered. Are you ready to start your new life?" There was a slight yearning in his voice, like he was secretly jealous of me. Who could blame him?

"Affirmative Greckho, requesting access to an active hangar bay." I took my finger off the transmit button, and leaned back into the leather pilot's seat, reveling in how comfortable it was.

After about a minute or so, the man came back on over the speakers, "Request approved, I am transferring your ship to docking bay fifteen. Good luck out there Commander, I'd kill to be in your shoes right now." He sounded a bit downtrodden at the end.

There was a loud whirring sound, before everything started to shake as my Cobra was picked up and carried on a monorail along the ceiling, before exiting the hanger through a large hole in the wall.

As I was transferred, I took the time to review everything I'd learned about undocking a spaceship from a Coriolis station like Greckho Dock. I had run through the simulations several times during my final exam, but this would be the first time I was going to _actually _fly a ship of any kind.

Through the glass canopy, I watched as the monorail took me through a long and barren corridor, before depositing the Cobra onto a different platform in docking bay fifteen, the ship coming to a complete stop. Everything was ready.

I put my finger on the transmit button once again, and hailed Greckho Dock on last time, "This is Commander Cory Vishner in docking bay fifteen, requesting departure, over."

This time, it was an older sounding woman who answered the hail, "This is Greckho Dock, request approved, you are free to launch as soon as the platform comes to a complete stop. Thank you for visiting Greckho Dock."

The floor beneath my ship began to slide forwards, carrying my ship to the far wall before moving upwards. Light shone from above as I was carried into the central chamber of the station. The chamber itself was an unimaginably massive cylindrical room, about ten kilometers long, and five kilometers wide. Ships of all types and sizes zoomed about, rushing to and from their designated landing pads. Countless trains sped across every wall, carrying thousands of people to different parts of the city-sized station.

There were even a few green areas along a couple of the walls that held trees and small ponds with benches and large holograms of people I assumed were historical figures here. At one end of the huge corridor was a rectangular blue forcefield that represented the exit, and also protected the inside from the vacuum of space. My future was beyond that forcefield.

A flashing orange holographic button appeared in the bottom center of my HUD, representing the control to release the landing gears. I activated it without hesitation.

The world seemed to shake around me as the landing gears detached from the ground before lifting up to slide back into panels under the Cobra. There was a soft blasting sound as the ship's thrusters kicked on to hold it in place. My ship appeared to spin in place as the walls shifted around me, but I knew it was the other way around. Now that I wasn't physically attached to the station, I could see the station spinning around me to simulate gravity.

I tightened my grip on the throttle in anticipation as I slowly pulled the stick up, and the Cobra instantly responded by putting a little extra power into the lateral thrusters, moving the ship to line up with the entrance slot.

With a deep, shaky breath, I thumbed the safety off the button labelled 'boost'. Everything I had trained for has led up to this fateful moment.

"Hello, Milky Way…" I whispered under my breath.

I slammed my fist down on the exposed button, officially shedding all connections to my past life as red lights came on from everywhere in the cockpit. Then, I was nearly deafened as the Cobra's forward thrusters _roared, _and I was roughly forced backwards against the leather seat as my ship shot forwards at three hundred meters per second, speeding past the entrance almost too fast for me to see.

The thing about flying a spaceship was that forward momentum was conserved, even if I changed directions. I thumbed a small switch to the right of the throttle, switching flight assist to 'off', which turned off my RCS thrusters, allowing me full range of movement without affecting my momentum. I used this technique to completely turn the Cobra around so that I could see the quickly fading shape of Greckho Dock as I shot away from it. I won't lie, right then and there, I cried in pure happiness.

I had finally done. I was now all alone, with my own spaceship, with the galaxy at my disposal. Well, eventually anyways. First, I needed a decent source of income.

I flipped back around and reactivated the flight assist, enabling the COVAS to control the RCS thrusters, stabilizing the ship.

I looked to the left of the pilot's seat, which caused a small orange holographic screen to appear there. This panel was reserved for navigation and target acquisition. But for right now, I was only interested in the galaxy map.

The second I selected the map, the entire canopy flickered, before the blackness of space was replaced by hundreds, no, _billions _of stars. I closed my eyes and took several deep breaths to compose myself in the face of so much potential knowledge. Despite the unimaginable amount of systems, only three were currently within my Cobra's very small jump range.

I took a minute to familiarize myself with each of the systems to determine the best course, before settling on a system called 'Trocnades'. An odd name perhaps, but it was a system with many settlements and stations, but had a very low population of just a few dozen thousand people, making them a prime demographic for a freelance commander such as myself. It was also an independent system, meaning I could get a decent standing before being thrown into the political powerplay, especially this close to the Federation's capital 'Sol'. Nearly two thousand years ago, Sol had been the only home for humanity, but things had changed.

I selected Sol as my target destination, the lovely female voice of my COVAS piping up, "Designation: Sol. Confirm?"

I eagerly replied, "Confirmed!" My eyes were wide with excitement, and I gripped the control sticks tightly in giddy preparation for my first hyperspace jump. Trocnades was over twelve light years away after all.

The Frame Shift Drive, or FSD for short, was a wildly impressive feat of engineering. It allowed faster than light travel through two methods. The first was called 'supercruise', which involved bending space-time around the ship, effectively moving the universe around it rather than moving through it. The second was called 'witchspace'. Witchspace is a completely other reality, an alternate dimension. In it, the universal speed limit is about eight thousand times the speed of light. The FSD allows jumping to and from Witchspace in short bursts, effectively letting someone travel up to eighty light-years in mere seconds if they had an FSD powerful enough.

An orange meter appeared at the top of my HUD, slowly filling to represent the FSD charging the jump to Witchspace. When it fully filled, it was replaced by red numbers that started counting down from four. As the countdown reached it's end, I could see a strange field of blue energy starting to form around the ship. I knew from my studies that this effect was the fabric of our universe breaking apart at it's seams to allow me through.

And allow me through it did.

The second the countdown hit zero, I was thrown back against my seat so hard that it stung. Space outside the canopy was completely replaced by a collage of flashing colors, both known and unknown, as all the meters on my HUD went crazy as they suddenly failed to calculate my position. The speedometer couldn't get a read on just how fast I was going, but it was many thousand times the speed of light.

I felt a small existential crises creeping up on me as I stared outwards at things I was never meant to even _begin _to comprehend.

Then, as soon as it had started, it was over. The flashing colors of Witchspace were replaced by a bright orange star flying straight at me. I quickly pulled the throttle all the way back, just barely avoiding flying straight into the star and being incinerated.

Going from the insane speeds of a hyperspace jump to normal flight in such a short time would instantly tear apart any ship that attempted it, so all hyperspace jumps placed you back into real space in supercruise to ease the shock more. Regardless, the deceleration was still jarring enough that I would've splatted grossly on the canopy had I not been strapped in.

I took a few minutes to stare dreamily at the giant ball of superheated gas in front of me, before looking back at the navigation panel to determine how close I was to the nearest settlement.

Suddenly, the comms lit up as I was hailed from a ship that my sensors told me was right behind me.

I immediately picked up, preparing to identify myself, but the other pilot spoke first in a gruff male voice.

"This is the last time you'll see a star ever again _Commander, _take a _real _good look…"

Right then and there, I knew that I'd made a mistake coming here.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Piracy was rampant in most parts of the Bubble, but I had figured I was too close to Sol to be worried about it. Whoever this guy was, he clearly wasn't afraid of antagonizing the Federal Navy, which scared me. That meant he was either stupid, or he knew what he was doing.

I couldn't scan him from this position while in supercruise, so I didn't know what ship he was in, or what his combat ranking was.

A large circular panel directly in front of me showed two orange rectangles that represented my Cobra and the other mystery pilot. The other rectangle moved forwards until it was right behind me, both of us in supercruise and moving several dozen times the speed of light.

Going this fast, I was safe from most things. In fact, I was safe from all but one thing, an FSD interdictor. A special module that lets someone create a physical lock between two ships in supercruise by expanding the warp bubble to encompass the defending ship, allowing the attacking ship to subsequently drop out of supercruise, taking the other ship with it.

Sadly, most pirates who knew what they were doing had an FSD interdictor, and this guy was no exception.

The lights in the cockpit all turned red, and alarms started to blare from all directions as my ship suddenly started to violently shake as if it had been grabbed by some large creature and thrown about.

The COVAS instantly piped up in just as calm a voice as ever, "CAUTION: FSD interdiction in progress, projecting escape vector to HUD…"

A small blue circle appeared on the reinforced glass canopy, and I instantly tried to tilt the control stick towards it. If I could line up with my escape vector for long enough, I just might be able to shake off the interdiction, forcing my assailant to back off and come back for another pass. Hopefully, that would give me enough time to make it to the safety of a station.

Sadly, the academy simulations could never have prepared me for just how _hard _it was to keep the ship lined up properly, and this guy clearly had more experience in this than I did. I could only fight off the capture for a couple minutes, before my FSD just gave out and submitted.

Just as soon as my ship gave up the fight, the enemy pilot pulled back on his throttle, and I watched as my speed went from twenty-five times the speed of light to completely still in just a couple seconds. _No _ship could safely withstand such a rapid deceleration, and my Cobra was no exception. Warnings popped up all over my HUD as modules were damaged from the interdiction. I wasn't in supercruise anymore.

I heard a loud boom as another ship dropped out behind me.

My comms lit back up as I was hailed by the other ship, "You fought pretty hard for someone with a non-existent combat rating. I respect that. Sadly, it doesn't change the outcome. Sadly for you I mean, heh heh."

I immediately slammed my fist down onto the transmit button, "WAIT! Look man, I don't have anything in my cargo hold, this ship is standard new from the factory, it doesn't even have any data on it's computer, there's nothing you can gain from this! Please, just let me go…"

I blinked tears out of my eyes. I had been stupid. So fucking stupid to think this had been a good idea. I should've gone to a system with better security to outfit my Cobra before even attempting a system like this.

The comms lit up once more as the pirate spoke in a low, ominously happy voice, "I don't care about your cargo or your ship. I have more money and assets than you ever will. I'm doing this because it's _fun._"

And then, my COVAS spoke up louder than ever before, and this time there _was _worry in her voice, "WARNING: Threat detected! Enemy ship has deployed hardpoints!"

My heart felt like it dropped into my stomach at that as I quickly grabbed the controls again before slamming my fist down on the boost button, leaning back into the chair as my ship shot forwards at a blisteringly fast speed.

However, he seemed to anticipate this, and he shot forwards at the exact same time, _only he was much faster. _

I gritted my teeth as I rapidly ran my practiced fingers across the dashboard, hitting all kinds of buttons as I prepared the Cobra for an emergency jump. Now that we were both in normal space, my sensors got a clear reading of my attacker. He was in a Viper MK3, a classic but very powerful assault fighter. I wasn't even going to attempt to fight something like that.

I was continuously hitting my boost, rapidly draining my engine power, but I didn't care. I was dead if I couldn't charge my FSD in time. Suddenly, alarms started blaring again as my shields started to read multiple heavy impacts. I was being shot now. My shields weren't equipped for combat, they weren't going to last long under these conditions as I watched them rapidly drain.

And then, my shields completely gave out. Without any protection, I could now feel the impacts of bullets against my ship's hull as I spun the control stick, trying to evade some of the fire with a classic barrel roll. Sadly, he didn't fall for this, and simply did the same maneuver to keep my in his sights. He was clearly the more experienced pilot.

I watched the charge on my FSD as it slowly crawled up. Almost there…

Suddenly, there was a loud explosion from behind me, before my COVAS said the most distressing thing possible at that moment, "CRITICAL ERROR: Main engine two unresponsive! FSD charge canceled."

I lost all control of my ship as I tumbled head over heels. The bastard had shot my engines out! The bullets stopped, and I watched my sensors as the other ship slowed to match my uncontrollable speed. I was openly crying now, and I reached down for the transmitter again to try one last time to convince my attacker to leave me be, but he was faster.

"Couldn't even face me like a real man. Pathetic. Say goodnight, _Commander._" He sneered at me.

I closed my eyes, and prepared for the end. I was stupid to think I had been cut out for this kind of job.

But the end never came. A _massive_ boom nearly deafened me as my sensors showed a new ship dropping in on us. It's designation read as an Anaconda. One of the largest and most powerful warships in the entire galaxy. It also read as belonging to the local defense force.

My eyes lit up, still crying, but now they were tears of pure relief. It was obvious who the troublemaker in this situation was, and the Anaconda wasted no time in opening fire on the Viper. I pulled up the Viper's shield reading on my HUD to watch the progress, but the enemy ship had already jumped away before his shields had even dropped, leaving one last message: "I'll remember you _Commander Vishner, _don't expect to be let off so easy next time…" he spoke in such a vehement and angry voice, that I believed him.

Now it was just me and the friendly Anaconda. I was routinely scanned before the _much _larger ship came up beside mine as I was still spinning wildly. The Anaconda was a good twenty times larger than the Cobra, so it wasn't a surprise when the larger ship opened up the cargo bay in it's belly, before scooping me up into it. The second the bay doors closed, artificial gravity kicked in, and my ship dropped roughly to the floor with such a rattling sound that I could tell half of the modules in my ship had been completely destroyed. I was only lucky that the cockpit hadn't depressurized.

The button to open the cockpit door was apparently busted, as nothing happened. It wasn't a problem though as I heard the hiss of a pressurized door opening, before three people in heavy armor walked in front of the canopy and looked in at me. They all three had rifles pointed at me.

One of them raised a hand to his helmet before my comms lit up, "Are you okay in there? You're safe now. Disregard the firepower, it's only protocol. Now, open your cockpit so we can get you out of there and somewhere more comfortable."

I reached down to press the transmitter, "I can't describe how happy I am to see you guys. I was sure I was dead there. However, my cockpit won't disengage, I can't get out."

At this revelation, the soldier in front nodded to the two behind him, saying something I couldn't hear. The other two holstered their rifles and pulled laser cutters from their hips. Damn, I thought, they really came prepared for everything.

I waited patiently; eyes closed as I attempted to calm myself down. The two soldiers melted the area around the canopy. Sparks flew in all directions as the reinforced glass began to glow red from the intense heat, before finally falling off completely. The two soldiers grabbed my hands and helped me out of the ship, my legs almost too weak to stand properly.

The apparent leader of the group still had his weapon pointed at me, but he wasn't rude. As soon as I was free, I turned around to look at my utterly _destroyed _ship. What was once the most beautiful thing I'd ever seen was now nothing more than a useless pile of scrap. When the Cobra had dropped onto the bay floor it had shaken loose most of the damaged components, including one of the main engines which was now completely separated from the main chassis.

I gawked at my now useless ship as two of the soldiers behind me whistled, clearly impressed with the damage done. Miraculously, the cockpit was the only part of the ship that didn't have a hull breach. Had it depressurized in space I would've instantly died.

A hand gently grasped my shoulder and the group started to lead me away from the cargo bay. I just mindlessly followed them, still not really comprehending the situation. The adrenaline had faded, but my heart was still racing at the thought of just how close I'd been to death, and sweat absolutely soaked the inside of my pilot suit.

We arrived in the sizeable bridge of the ship, where the captain was waiting for me. He was a tall dark-skinned man with lines all over his face that told of many hard years, but his eyes were kind as he reached his hand out to shake mine, which I did without hesitation. This man had just saved my life.

He spoke in a deep but jovial voice, "Nice to meet you Commander, my name is Captain Horus. We picked up small weapons fire not too far from us, but I see we got here just in time. I'm glad to see you're okay, Commanders like yourself are scarce these days. We'll get you to the nearest station equipped to repair your ship, but feel free to make yourself at home until then."

I nodded gratefully before replying in a shaky voice, "I don't know how I can th `````qqqqqqqqqqqwnk you, sir. I thought for sure this was the end. That Viper packed a hell of a punch. Speaking of, do you have any idea where that guy went? He's dangerous."

The Captain shook his head gravely, "I'm sorry, he made a random hyperspace jump as soon as we arrived, and my ship isn't equipped to track someone through Witchspace."

I only nodded at that, before standing tall with false confidence and bringing my hand up to my head in a salute, "As repayment for coming to my aid, I am yours to command until my ship is repaired. Commander Cory Vishner, at your service."

Captain Horus nodded curtly in approval, saluting me back to complete the ritual.

"Welcome aboard the F.A.S Spirit of Redemption, Commander Vishner. I'm sure I can find something for you to do. Actually, now that I think of it, do you have any training in how to operate a ship-launched figher? Our Condor pilot is currently in the infirmary after a hard-fought battle, and no one else onboard is qualified to take his place."

I smiled, happy to help as I nodded in affirmation of my new position.

He practically glowed with relief, "Oh thank god. The Spirit of Redemption is a tough gal, but her turning speed is practically non-existent. She needs fighter support to really be effective in a combat situation. Honestly, I'm just glad that piece of shit pirate didn't realize we had no fighter, otherwise he could've just hit us from behind all day until we gave out."

I was dismissed with another salute, before the Captain turned back to sit down in the pilot seat. The Anaconda assault ship could be piloted solo, but it was designed to be operated by a twenty person crew. All around the bridge were seats with terminals in front of them, each operated by a person in a bright blue uniform.

I figured it wouldn't be wise to distract them from their no doubt important job, so I left them alone. I was assigned an escort to show me around, and to keep a close eye on me. I ignored the rifle on his back, understanding it was a necessary precaution.

First, I asked him to take me to the fighter hanger, so I knew where to go in-case something happened, and then the mess hall. Less than a day into my career as a Commander, and I had already been stressed to the point of starvation.

After an admittedly not very good meal of slop and water, I asked for my quarters. I would take a small nap to refresh my mental state before I got to work. Even if I wasn't needed quite yet, it was still my duty to maintain the Condor fighter while it was docked.

My escort, who was disturbingly quiet outside of simple directions, showed me to my room, which had a surprisingly comfortable bed in it. The man following me stood outside my door and closed it. I heard it lock from the outside. I was fine with being closely guarded, they didn't know me. Plenty of Commanders ended up using their talents for less than legal activities, so I couldn't blame them.

I closed me eyes as my heart finally returned to it's normal rate, and the second my back hit the cushions I was out.

My eyes flew open as alarms blared, red lights flashing all over the place. I quickly sprung from my bed and went to the door, but found it to still be locked. I frantically tried to peel the sliding doors apart, but it was no use. I jumped at the sound of gunfire, _inside _the ship. Were we being boarded?!

I could do nothing but sit there and listen to the fighting outside, as it progressively got closer. I heard screams followed by thuds that I assumed were bodies hitting the deck. After maybe half an hour, the fighting stopped. I sat there, holding my breath as I waited for something to happen. For _anything _to happen.

Suddenly, I heard several sets of heavy footfalls as at least five people in boots stopped in front of my door.

"Alright Commander, we know you're in there. Come out with your hands up. Or don't, that only makes it more fun for us."

That voice. That _horrible _voice. I recognized it instantly. It was the Viper pilot. The one who had interdicted me. Apparently he had gotten some friends of his, and had presumably killed everyone on-board. I felt a foreign emotion rising in my chest. And it wasn't fear, that was something I was very familiar with. It wasn't sadness either. The only thing I felt right then at that moment was _hatred. _In the little time that I'd known of his existence, this man had nearly killed me, and then had gone out of his way to murder the people who had saved me.

For no other reason than that he wanted to do it.

And what had I done? I'd taken a nap. I was sleeping when I could've been in that fighter, helping to protect these people like I'd been _trained _to do. Like I'd promised I would.

Piloting a ship wasn't the only thing involved in being a Commander. We were trained as tactical combat support units. Not the best at anything, but good enough at everything to get by. I forced myself to purge my mind of any unhelpful emotions like fear or guilt and got to work.

I quietly moved to the side of the door, just out of sight. I had both arms in front of me, ready to do anything required of them.

"So, it's the fun way then…" I heard the evil man say, before I heard him order someone to get the door open. We were too close to the hull to use explosives without killing _all _of us, so I knew they wouldn't try to blow the door down. I stayed exactly where I was.

I heard a dull thump as something was attached to the door, before a series of beeps could be heard. They were gonna hack the door. That meant I was in the perfect position for a counterattack.

I knew my chances of survival were slim. I was trained in fighting groups of enemies, but I was unarmed, and I didn't know how many of them there were. My only real target was the Viper pilot. I would be content with death, knowing that I at least brought the architect of my suffering down with me.

The door slid open, and I saw the slightest hint of a gun barrel slip through the entrance before I acted. I grabbed onto the barrel with both hands before spinning around, ripping the weapon from the owner's hands in one solid motion. In the same motion, I kicked backwards into the now unarmed man's chest, sending him backwards into whoever was standing behind him.

I immediately turned to face them and opened fire, screaming in unbridled rage as two of them fell, riddled with bullets. There were three left, but they all took cover in time to avoid the attack.

Two of them yelled in fury at their fallen comrades, but the other just laughed out loud, the voice confirming that I hadn't killed the man I wanted.

"Hah! So, there _is _some fight in you after all! I was starting to think this would be just another boring mission, but you're proving to be craftier than I expected!" The man yelled over his own gunfire as he peaked from cover to send a hail of bullets in my direction, but I'd already taken my own cover back behind the doorway, wincing as the bullets came close enough for me to feel their heat.

The other two men opened fire as well, effectively pinning me down. I couldn't return fire like this, I needed a new strategy. Then, I noticed a critical flaw in their plan of attack. They were _all _firing. That meant they weren't alternating fire to allow their teammates to reload. They would all run out of ammo at roughly the same time.

I waited patiently, before several quiet clicks were heard and the roaring of the guns stopped. I immediately ran out of the room and barreled into the first guy I saw, but my charge was a bit sloppy and we both tumbled to the ground.

The man I tackled reached down to his hip and pulled out a long combat knife, before thrusting it into my leg. I cried out in agony as the blade bit deep into my calf, severing muscle and tendons. The man with the knife used the leverage to pull himself to his feet, letting go of the knife to stand triumphantly over me as he pulled a handgun from his other hip, pointing the barrel right at my head.

I didn't hesitate. Fighting through the pain, I kicked out full force with my good leg, hitting him square in his right knee, his leg buckling with a sickening snap as his knee bent backwards at an unnatural angle. He screamed shrilly as I took the opportunity to reach up and wrench the pistol from his hand, using my other hand to grab the knife in my leg. Gritting my teeth, I whimpered as I jerked the blade out of my body, blood spurting from the deep wound.

I took the bloodied combat knife, and shoved it as deep into the man's throat as I could. His eyes went wide in fear as he made sickening gurgling sounds from his ruined esophagus. I maintained the pressure until he stopped spasming. I kept the knife in and used it as a handhold to keep the man from falling. I kept him in-between me and the last two pirates, effectively using him as a meat-shield.

I was forced to lean heavily onto my good leg, which would be a major disadvantage if I needed to move quickly.

However, as I peaked over the dead man's shoulder, there was only one pirate left, and he was still falling from the single bullet hole in his forehead.

I cursed, pulling the knife from my victim's throat, letting him drop to the floor. I assumed my target had tried to escape, and his last comrade had rounded on him when he started to run. It was the last mistake he ever made.

My gut told me that he would head to his ship, which was most likely in the hanger bay. I had a different destination in mind though.

I limped down several long corridors, wildly glancing at every dark corner that could have a potential enemy in it. But I didn't have another encounter before I got to my destination. The fighter bay.

Inside of the bay were two perfectly maintained Condor support fighters. They were less powerful than a Viper, but significantly faster and more maneuverable. They were about half the size of my Cobra, small enough that I didn't even need a ladder to pull myself into the cockpit, hissing in pain at my still bleeding leg. The wound wouldn't kill me anytime soon, so it could be left alone until I had the time to bandage myself up.

I keyed on the Condor's engines, and remotely opened the hanger door. Once clear of the Spirit of Redemption I did a local scan and found a Viper speeding away at top speed. I immediately activated my weapon systems and turned my ship to face that direction, before hitting the boost.

The Condor was a good three times faster than the Cobra I was used to, and I yelped as I was forced back against the seat so hard that it jolted my wounded leg. Growling under my breath, I fought through the pain as I quickly caught up with the Viper.

My comms lit up as I was hailed from the other ship, "Still with me eh? We'll see about th-" He was interrupted as I pulled the trigger on the throttle stick, charging up the lasers before beams of white-hot energy shot forwards from either side of the canopy, instantly connecting with the Viper's shields.

I heard him briefly curse before the feed was cut. The Viper pitched upwards, before stalling his engines. The tactic surprised me as I shot under him at full speed. My sensors showed him falling back in behind me, before the Condor's COVAS spoke up in a deep male voice, "WARNING! Threat detected! Enemy ship has deployed hardpoints!"

I was ready for a rematch. Let's see how tough he was when I had a _real _combat ship. Still going forwards at top speed, I thumbed the flight assist off, and turned my ship around to face my opponent as we both showered each-other with our weapons.

He had versatility on his side, with multiple weapon systems, chaff launchers, and a single point defense turret designed for shooting down missiles and other ordinance. I only had the two pulse lasers, and surprisingly thick shields, but they were draining fast. I was outgunned, so I switched tactics. I turned flight assist back on and boosted forwards again, this time straight at the Viper. I diverted all of my spare power to the shields as we collided at insanely fast speeds.

We were so close to each-other at the point of impact that I got a gloriously close up view of the enemy pilot lurching forwards and bashing his head on the dashboard, moving his mouth in curses that I couldn't hear as blood dripped from a cut in his forehead.

Even with the extra power, the impact nearly depleted my shields, but his completely dropped as he apparently hadn't anticipated the move. I quickly acted on the opportunity, blasting his glass canopy with superheated plasma. I watched the heavily reinforced glass crack under the assault before I saw the other pilot thrust his control stick down and flew under me.

Determined to not give him another shot at me, I used the Condor's superior maneuverability to stay behind him as I started to fire on his engines. Without any shields to protect them, the engines quickly started to sputter, before dying completely as his ship was sent into an uncontrollable spin. I smiled deviously, I knew what he was going through.

My comms lit up, "STOP! I yield, I yield! Take me to prison, do anything, just please don't kill me. I'm sorry, I swear! I'll be a better person! I'll sell my ship!"

I didn't even flinch at his pleading. I didn't even respond. With Captain Horus' face fresh in my mind, I pulled the trigger.

I kept the feed open. I felt a morbid yet intense satisfaction as I heard him scream in fear as his hull was shredded by my lasers, before finally, the feed cut to silence as his canopy was ruptured, depressurizing the cockpit as the silence of space filled the Viper. But even though I couldn't hear him anymore, I still relished the knowledge that he was currently in sub-zero temperatures, suffocating while his heart expanded to exploding inside of his chest.

Even then, I kept firing until I hit his reactor, causing the Viper to explode in a glorious show of bright orange. Only then did I let off the trigger. I breathed heavily, my heart pumping faster than it ever has before. I sat there for several minutes as I watched what was left of the Viper float away from itself, doomed to float away for the rest of time.

Once the adrenaline stopped flowing through my veins, I let go of the controls, put my hands up to my face, and screamed.

Forced or not, I had just killed four people. I'd done it many times in simulations, but never had I actually taken a life. The people in the simulator didn't have emotions. They didn't feel. They were just targets to shoot at. But not these. They had been _scared_. I had watched the life fade from the eyes of the man I'd stabbed, watched as he relived every bad decision that had led to him being there.

And the Viper pilot. I had never learnt his name, but I felt as if I knew him on such an intimate level. He wasn't a good person. That much I knew from his actions and demeanor. But everyone makes mistakes, and your mistakes can change you for the worse if you're not careful. I'm sure at one point he was a loving member of a family that wanted nothing to do with this.

And I had killed him. I had removed the possibility of him ever getting any better. Sure, in ending him here, I might've saved someone else that would've been his future victim, but that didn't change the fact that he had seemed genuinely terrified at the end, maybe even receptive to changing his ways. But now I would never know.

Quietly, I turned the Condor around, and flew back to the F.A.S Spirit of Redemption. If there were any more pirates on-board I would deal with them appropriately, before confirming Captain Horus' fate. I had been officially registered as part of the ship's crew. By law, in the case of the original owner's death or disappearance, his ship was to be transferred to the highest ranking surviving crew member. Which was most likely me.

I had won an Anaconda.

But I didn't feel like a winner.


End file.
